This is the 3rd emotion I have painted in this little series that has the potential to keep going for a while. Next week I will have to start painting my happier feelings – this little project could become very depressing otherwise.
I am enjoying this little exercise – illustrating emotions, I’ve never tried before. I have been writing journals for years and years so in a way I am used to getting feelings down on paper. I just haven’t used watercolour before.
I sketched my first outdoor watercolour for 2021 yesterday. It was 8 degrees but sunny enough to stay warm. Damn it feels good to be outside sketching again.
Crazy to think it was so cold just a short time ago. Most of the snow has melted now. I long to get out and start sketching for real. Soon, very soon.
Svindersviken 18 x 13 cm
I was out for a walk last week when I saw an abandoned Volvo by the side of the road. I took some photos for reference and painted this watercolour yesterday. I am very happy with it because I am trying to create interesting compositions from everyday, mundane life. I want to avoid the cliches that litter watercolour groups all over the net. My main source of inspiration at the moment is Lars Lerin, he is so good at capturing everyday moments with a wee touch of Swedish melancholy.
I can feel new energy slowly seeping into me now after the long winter months, I am becoming productive, it feels good to be painting landscapes again.
Title: Spring is on it’s way. 36 x 26 cm
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A view from Kvarnholmen. A small sketch, a giant leap …I’ve haven’t been painting so much recently so this little watercolour, painted the other day was important; a small step.
I have this little routine were I produce a watercolour nude each Monday morning to help promote my weekly life drawing session. I play around with how I express myself – I really enjoy it so I will continue with my Monday nudes. At the same time I really need to start painting landscapes again. Maybe I’m waking up from my winter slumber? I hope so.
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I have no wish to compete with photographic images. When I paint a nude from a photo as in this case I want to find my own way of expressing the feelings I have towards the subject. If I just tried to copy the image on my computer screen it would be just so uninteresting and also demoralising because the original photograph will always be best. I know there are super-realists out there who would disagree with me. There is no wrongs or rights, for me it’s just a personal quest to find a form of expression.
Reclining nude 36 x 26 cm
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As I write this it is minus 10 outside. Summer feels very far away right now. Thankfully I am an artist and can recreate the memories of the long magical days we experienced while sailing in the Stockholm archipelago last year. We sailed for a month, most nights we slept in a different natural harbour. This painting at Fjärdlång was created in the studio from a photo I had taken. I maybe act like a squirrel, I take photos all summer then store them for the winter months when I am starved of adventure and sketching outdoors.
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